Hawkman's Chips
by Abigail Thalia La Rue
Summary: For Scotty1609's birthday. Batman left Robin to sleep at the watchtower while he was on patrol. When Boy Wonder has a nightmare, who is there to comfort him but the Flash, who had been up eating Hawkman's chips.


_** Author's note: This is an early birthday present for my friend Scotty1609. She's awesome and if you even remotely don't hate this you with LOVE her writing.**_

**_-a thanks to song six for the correction_**

_Crunch_

Another night in the watchtower, most of the Justice league either in bed or on patrol, leaving the Flash to raid the kitchen; Hawkman wouldn't even have to ask what happened to his chips.

"No!" The speedster was on alert as soon as he heard the cry. He dropped the snacks and sped off in the direction of the sound.

He found himself in a hallway; not a disturbance in sight. He was about to head back to the kitchen when he heard another pleading cry; it was coming from behind a door only a few feet away.

"Mommy! No!" '_Batman's room? But he's on patrol, I would have heard it if he came in early.'_ The spandex-clad man pondered this for a long moment (or at least it was to him; in reality it was barely four seconds) _Robin_.

He didn't bother trying to open the door; Bats wouldn't let anyone but Robin and Wonder Woman have the access code. '_Wonder Woman? Why would she- Wait, Robin, gotta stay focused here.'_ He mentally face-palmed and vibrated through the door into the dark night's quarters. He rarely stayed there himself unless he was there after a particularly long night, but he let Robin sleep in there from time to time when he knew the boy was too tired to go out on patrol with him.

The young hero in question was on the bed; legs tangled in the sheets, a sheen of sweat on his brow, and face contorted in agony. It was the single most horrifying thing the Flash- or Barry Allen- had ever witnessed.

"No! Don't leave me-!" His pleas were cut off by a strangled yell.

"Robin! Kid, wake up!" The Flash was at his bedside, shaking the child's shoulders in attempt to wake him.

"NO!" He sat bolt upright, screaming and crying, reaching out for people who were already far past saving. He just sat there for a moment, tears pouring down his face and a small whimper of two escaping his lips. Then he looked up and realized where he was. He looked down, trying to wipe away the tears the just kept coming.

The speedster knelt down to be eye-level with the small boy. "Are you okay?" Robin looked up for, holding the tears at bay for the moment. "Robin. It's okay, I'm right here. You can't always be brave, even superheroes cry sometimes." He gently put a hand on his shoulder; that was the breaking point.

The tears were falling heavily once more as Robin flung himself around the scarlet hero, crying into his shoulder. Barry tried to comfort him. He tried everything from rocking him to singing a lullaby; nothing seemed to help. So he just held him as he cried. Neither of them knew how much time had passed , neither of them cared. After a long while the tears began to slow, and tortured sobs faded into pained whimpers.

Several hours later, as the sun was rising over the earth, Batman finally returned. After a long night of crime-fighting the dark knight was ready to just get Robin and get home to his bed, but he knew when he opened his door that it wouldn't be that easy; it never was.

His ward was in the Flash's arms, sleeping restlessly and his face tear-tracked. The Flash was sitting with his back against the bed cradling Robin in his arms, he turned to look at Batman as he opened the door.

Without saying a word the both confirmed what had happened during the night and that it was not an uncommon occurrence.

No one even needed to ask why the two heroes looked so upset and why the Bat was taking a sleeping Robin home without a word. They all had witnessed themselves the sadness that was Robin's nightmares, how nothing seemed the same again once you had seen that kind of pain on the face of a child so young.

But they all had to move on. It's what heroes do; it's either that or they'd go insane with the things they had seen.

So the Flash tried to act normal and forced smiles and laughs throughout the day. No one believed it, but they said nothing. He knew they knew, but he didn't bring it up. No one wanted to be reminded of their experiences with Boy Wonder. So they all acted as they would on any other day; the Flash even ate the rest of Hawkman's chips.

_**Author's note: This is my first time writing in any fandom other than PJO, so please critique anything and everything that you don't like about this. So, yes, if you hate this I am telling you to flame away. Love ya!**_


End file.
